You may say that Marcedes Lewis is a dreamer, but he’s not
the only one.
Not this week.
It’s a thought that’s probably crept into the mind
of everyone around Westwood. It’s the stuff that collective
Bruin dreams are made of. It’s the unthinkable, the
unfathomable, the absurd. But then again, what if it actually
happens?
What if UCLA actually beats USC?
“If we win this game, it just turns the whole program
around,” Lewis said. “The hard work that we’ve
been putting in will finally pay off when we win this
game.”
But it’s not just that. A win Saturday would mean even
more than that. It’s phenomenal to really consider how much
things could change in a matter of three hours if UCLA is indeed
able to shock the world Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
The football program would have ultimate bragging rights and
possibly catapult into the upper echelon of college football.
UCLA would likely experience a tremendous swell in
recruiting.
The student body would be united like few here have ever seen,
and the diehard Bruin fans would be in absolute bliss.
The goalposts at the Rose Bowl would be in tremendous peril, and
so might students who venture past police.
And Westwood might just burn to the ground.
A win Saturday would just mean so much to so many.
“That would be great for something like that to happen,
wouldn’t it?” coach Karl Dorrell asked.
For UCLA, it would be.
The Program: It’s impossible to discuss
the far-reaching effects of a victory without first exploring its
tremendous impact on the team itself.
These are the players and coaches who haven’t seen a
victory over USC since 1998. They are the individuals who have put
in the time and effort, the sweat and tears, and they are the ones
for whom a victory Saturday would mean the most.
“We want to be remembered,” senior receiver Craig
Bragg said. “They’ve got a streak going on us, and you
want to be the team that turns it around. That would be a great way
for the seniors to go out.”
When one talks of the legacy of these seniors, the first thing
that comes to mind is upheaval. They’ve seen up and down
seasons, two head coaches, countless position coaches, and the
incredible ascendance of the program across town. A win Saturday
would undoubtedly make things a lot better.
“We’re just hungry,” senior cornerback Matt
Clark said. “Being here in this program for the last three
years and losing to these guys every year, it hurts a
lot.”
For Clark and Bragg and many other Bruins, a win would command
respect.
“I just don’t think anybody respects us as far as
playing against them,” safety Jarrad Page said.
“Everyone is talking about their national championship and
talking about whether or not they should be No. 1, focusing on
things like that rather than focusing on us.”
But that’s because USC has won 20 straight games, and UCLA
has been inconsistent at best. Still, a win on Saturday would be
validation. It would validate the dedication the Bruins have put
in. It would undoubtedly prove that Dorrell, nearing the end of his
second season, is moving the program in the right direction.
“It would be a big step,” Dorrell said.
“There’s not one guy on our team who has beat USC, from
the seniors down to the freshmen. It’s always a landmark
situation like that once they have the feeling that those things
can happen, and that’s what we’re trying to prove this
weekend.”
One of the reasons Dorrell was hired is because he understands
the importance of the rivalry, having experienced it as a player.
Athletic director Dan Guerrero wouldn’t comment on the
hypothetical of a Bruin win and what it would mean for the program,
but everyone seems to agree that it would mean a whole lot.
“Anytime you win a big game like this, if you knock off
the No. 1 team in the country, it’s going to bring a lot of
attention to your program,” defensive coordinator Larry Kerr
said. “It’s going to help you in recruiting, and
it’s going to let our players see what we see in them ““
that they’re very good.”
It wasn’t so long ago that UCLA was the local team with
the 20-game winning streak and that unmistakable swagger. Then
there was the loss to Miami in 1998 and the subsequent fall from
grace. A win Saturday might help bring that swagger back.
“This is just a statement game,” quarterback Drew
Olson said. “If we were to win, UCLA might have a little bit
of that swagger that it used to have. The name goes a long way
still, but to knock off the No. 1 team and make a statement and
show people that we are a good football team even though we let a
couple slide.
“It would be big for this program.”
And in the dynamic of this rivalry, with these players living in
the same city, bragging rights mean a lot.
“I’ve got a couple of friends on the team, and we
see them, we run into them around L.A., and it’s a lot of
talking,” Clark said. “We’d really like to have
those bragging rights.”
The Future
For how important a win Saturday would be for the current
Bruins, it might even be more important for the future of the
program.
Beating No. 1 USC would tremendously influence Karl
Dorrell’s ability to recruit top-notch high school players,
the kind of players that probably wouldn’t look at a program
without any wins over ranked teams in the last two seasons.
“Karl Dorrell’s recruiting needs could really use
validation,” said Tracy Pierson of BruinReportOnline.com.
“For two years he’s been recruiting, and a lot of it
has been selling potential.”
Pierson, who is probably more knowledgeable about UCLA
recruiting than anyone else outside the program, explained how
Dorrell has really only been able to discuss the program’s
potential with recruits, rather than pointing to concrete results
and important victories.
A win Saturday would give Dorrell both.
“If he gets this, what you’re able to sell is so
much more improvement,” Pierson said. “Then you have
seven wins, on top of beating the No. 1 team in the country. It
gives him validation that he’ll be able to compete with great
teams.”
Pierson said Dorrell has a unique opportunity to attract some
top Southern California recruits to the program, simply because USC
is at the point where it can go after all of the top recruits
across the nation. The Trojans may be showing only tepid interest
in some very talented Southern California products.
“Hopefully some of the younger guys will see that we can
play with ‘SC and it will help with recruiting,” senior
receiver Tab Perry said. “If we beat the No. 1 team in the
nation, that might sway some people over this way.”
In recruiting, it’s all about improvement, and Dorrell
firmly believes that his team continues to show improvement. The
win against Oregon was huge, and an upset of USC would be a
gigantic step.
“It’s one of those things where it’s hard to
judge even how important it could be, because we haven’t had
anything before like this,” Pierson said.
“There’s no precedent for it. It could be even bigger
than anyone could assume.”
The Student Body
And then there’s the people who don’t play football
but would still be profoundly affected by a UCLA victory ““
the students.
Whether or not it’s right, many UCLA students will judge
part of their UCLA experience by the success of the sports teams,
namely football and men’s basketball, during their time in
Westwood.
And frankly, things haven’t been so great recently.
“Losing has lost a huge part of the student body,”
said second-year Marc Sawyer, an executive board member of The Den,
UCLA’s official student fan group. “These aren’t
the Wooden years of basketball. The fans want winning teams, and
when we’re the second best football team in L.A., sleeping in
sounds a lot more fun than trips to the Rose Bowl. You look at the
student section, and it’s never full.”
It’s not a secret. Los Angeles fans want a winner.
“School spirit is one of the most fickle and capricious
things at UCLA,” spirit squad member Andrew Green said.
“We do have really strong school spirit, but not
consistently. People love it if we win and hate it if we
lose.”
And for this year’s seniors, there has been a lot of
losing to USC.
Fourth-year biology student Matt Feldman recalls the beginning
of his UCLA career. The football team had won its first six games,
rising to No. 3 in the nation in the process. And then it all fell
apart.
“That was the only year that we had a chance to beat USC,
and Carson Palmer destroyed us,” Feldman said.
Two years and two more Trojan victories have passed since then,
and Feldman can’t take it anymore.
“It’s been so devastating that I’m not going
to this year’s game,” he said.
But now we return to that burning question. What if UCLA were to
win this year?
Well, it would be huge.
“It would vindicate us,” Feldman said. “It
would vindicate our entire class.”
“All I know is that a win Saturday against the No. 1 team
in the nation, against our archrival, against a team who has beat
us five years in a row, against a team we all love to hate,
there’s going to be a buzz around campus somewhat foreign to
UCLA for the past few years,” Sawyer said.
Said Green, “I want something to rub it in USC’s
face, because it’s about time.”
Sawyer and The Den have made tremendous strides in increasing
fan support for Bruin athletics, and a win Saturday would mean so
much to them.
“A win will do so much for the student support in UCLA
athletics,” Sawyer said. “The athletes want to give us
something to cheer about, and this is their huge chance to bring
back that fan base.”
The Aftermath
So what if it actually happens? Would fans storm the field and
tear down the goalposts? Would Westwood riot? Would people stay in
their rooms and study?
“We’d go nuts,” Sawyer said. “Absolutely
nuts.”
Everyone seems to be in agreement that a victory over USC would
unite the student body unlike anyone has seen in a while.
“I couldn’t picture it,” Bragg said. “I
hope it would be as fun as I think it would be in my head. I think
it will be a great place to be if we win that game, and
that’s what we’re striving for every day.”
Even Dorrell acknowledges things might get out of hand.
“It would probably go crazy, and I would hope that nothing
too damaging would happen from the effects,” Dorrell
said.
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, procedures are in place to
keep things under control in the event of a UCLA victory. The
Pasadena Police Department will be on duty Saturday at the Rose
Bowl, and they’ll be ready to keep students off the
field.
“There are procedures in place to keep students from
rushing the field every game,” Pasadena Police Lieutenant
Rick Aversano said. “If anybody goes on the field without a
credential, they will go to jail.”
That would appear to create a conflict of interest with diehard
fans like Sawyer.
“I think they should allow it to happen, because this
would be insane if we won,” Sawyer said. “They
shouldn’t ruin it by playing defense to ecstatic
fans.”
Back in Westwood, the UCPD will be ready, but they said they
don’t have any particular plan in place. They won’t act
until they have information that something could happen.
The Possibility
Will it actually happen? Nobody knows.
But if it does, something will happen. UCLA will become
something that no one has experienced in a while.
“It would be a good feeling around Westwood for a long
time,” Perry said.
But first the Bruins will have to play the best football
they’ve played in a long time.
“We just think about winning the game,” Lewis said.
“It’s not “˜what if.’ We need to win this
game.
“That’s all I dream about right now.”
Imagine that.